We can rebuild it

“It was completely different from other times. I could see the fear on the faces of people and everybody was talking about the damage, how many people had died and how they were going to survive,” says Bangkok-based, Nepali engineer Gyanendra R Sthapit of the Asian Institute of Technology of his visit to Kathmandu earlier this month.

“When we visited the Sunakothi area of Patan, I was shocked to see how the houses had collapsed. Some houses looked normal from outside but when we entered, we could see that they were badly damaged. I talked with local people and they said they don’t know what to do. They were hoping to get some support from the government or other organisations,” adds the director of AIT’s Habitech Centre, who has been living in Thailand for 24 years.

Sthapit, whose family home in Kathmandu was left unscathed in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on April 25, visited Nepal from May 5 to 11 in the company of his colleague, Assoc Prof Dr Sangam Shrestha of the School of Engineering and Technology (SET) and a Nepalese team from AIT. They are aiming to build permanent houses for the victims after the coming rainy season, which starts around mid-June and lasts for about three months,

With around 800,000 homes uninhabitable, and 500,000 homes totally destroyed, the government’s immediate priority is to provide adequate shelter. However, many more permanent houses need to be built.

And that’s where AIT comes in. 

Known for its low-cost, disaster-resilient technology and sustainable interlocking component housing, AIT’s Habitech Centre built several houses in Baan Nam Khem in Phang Nga Province after the 2004 tsunami all but knocked out the village. The team also constructed a large number of schools in Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis hit in May 2008.

“In much the same way as Lego, AIT’s Habitech has created a manual mould for making cement soil stabilised blocks by hand. This technology allows local villagers to construct their own houses by making blocks with a hole in the middle so that they interlock. They are then fixed with cement mortar,” explains Prof Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, the president of AIT.

The president adds that each 24-square-metre house costs about Bt70,000 to build and has a life of about 50 years. In addition to the Habitech mould, AIT also plans to introduce the technology that has emerged from its “Reinventing the Toilet: Sustainable Decentralised Wasterwater Management in Developing Countries” project for housing in Nepal.

Funded by a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AIT’s Assoc Prof Thammarat Koottatep and his team at the Environmental Engineering and Management School are working on the final process for making a low-cost hygienic toilet that can separate liquid and solid waste and recycle both waste products for washing water and fertiliser.

“We’ve designed a toilet that can separate faecal sludge from liquids. We have also come up with a solar septic tank that can produce up to 1.5 litres of methane per day. The solar septic tank can reduce the accumulated solids by up to 50 per-cent more than a conventional septic tank,” Thammarat explains.

“The tank will heat the drained water up to 50 degrees Celsius. Our research shows that the heating kills up to 99.9 per cent of bacteria and so it can be used for washing or bathing. The faecal sludge will serve as fertiliser.” 

AIT’s Habitech and Reinventing the Toilet technologies will be soon introduced in Kenya, India and Cambodia as well as in remote areas of Thailand.

Staphit says that after the monsoon and the October-November Dashain festival period, the government plans to come up with a menu at the Village District Level (VDC), offering options for more permanent housing structures. AIT’s Habitech technology could be included as one such option for the middle and long term. During their discussions, the vice chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) recommended that AIT prepare a brochure in Nepali, with simple instructions on how to use the Habitech technology, which people at the VDC level could refer to as a user manual. Once the different options have been selected or recognised by the government, no other designs will be allowed.

“Building the interlocking house in Nepal is not difficult. All the people need is equipment, technical knowledge and technical know-how. AIT can support all of these matters. Locally available construction materials and local labour will be used to build the houses. We can train local people to produce interlocking bricks and show them how to use them in building the houses. AIT’s Habitech Centre has an office in Nepal and our colleagues there are already working on this direction,” Sathapit explains.

“We have not decided the location for the project. It will be decided after consultation with Thai partners, who have been very active in raising funds for this project. It does not matter which village we will build. Our only concern is that the houses go the real victims and to poor people, who cannot afford to construct their new homes. 

“All we want to do is help earthquake victims and see smiles on their faces just as we saw the smiles when the houses were given to tsunami victims in Baan Nam Khem village in Phang Nga province,” the Nepali engineer concludes.

 

Helping hands and hearts for Nepal

The charity event, “Heart Quake: Home and Heal” takes place on Sunday from 11am to 10pm at EmQuartier shopping complex. The opening is at 5.30pm when the Asian Institute of Technology will deliver the house project to the organisers. That will be followed by live painting by National Artist Preecha Thaothong, who recently donated a Bt1-million masterpiece to help raise funds earthquake victims in Nepal. The auction of the masterpiece will start at 1pm and close on May 31.

“The event is on the theme ‘Home and Heal’ and will take the form of a contemporary Thai temple fair with the essence of a Nepalese carnival essence,” explains Sujintana Chanyatitsakul of the Mekhong Organisation for Mankind, who helped tsunami victims in Baan Nam Khem in Phang Nga in 2004. 

The event kicks off at 11am when fairgoers can view the art exhibition and buy T-shirts designed by Sakwut Wisetmanee, Chalit Nakpawan and Sutee Kunavichayanont. 

“The event will feature silent art auction of more than 60 pieces by some 30 artists, among them national artists Kamol Tassananchalee and Ittipol Tangchalok and other artists from Silpakorn University,” says Amrit Choosuwan dean of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts at Silpakorn University.

The Photographer Association of Thailand will also display photos depicting Nepal both before and after the quake. Among the highlights are stunning images by Thaweechai Jaowattana, former photo editor at The Nation, who recently joined the AIT trip to Nepal. Taken with a fish-eye lens, one photo depicts a desperate monk praying for help in front of Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu. Another impressive shot shows a woman praying with a group of Nepalese ladies in a village about 25 kilometres from Kathmandu. 

National artist Waranun Chutchawantipakorn donates his collection of Nepal images before the quake for auction.

A Nepalese performance will take place at 4pm and will be followed by a mini jazz concert by Silpakorn University band. BabyMime will take the stage around 5pm. Anchalee Chongkadeekit will sing the newly composed “We Pray Together” at 6pm. The song can be downloaded from today from Android and iPhone apps with the money going to the fund-raising project. She will be followed on stage by Silpakorn Symphony’s mini orchestra. The event will wrap around 10 with blues music by various artists.

The event will also be joined by Vitidnan Rojanapanich, the first Thai climber to stand on the 8,848-metre summit of the world’s highest mountain in 2008.

“We hope to raise funds to build at least 50 houses. One house costs Bt70,000. The rest we will use to buy necessary foodstuffs like oil and beans that the Nepalese victims really need,” says Sujintana, who also joined the AIT tip to Nepal from May 5 to 11. 

For more information, call (061) 626 4949.